CEO Tom Lewand to leave Shinola at year's end

Ex-Detroit Lions team president has been Shinola's CEO since June 2016

He's leaving the luxury watch maker for an undisclosed "new professional role"

Lewand's departure follows Jacques Panis' exit in March 2018

Shinola/Detroit LLC CEO Tom Lewand Jr. plans to leave the luxury goods maker at the end of the year.

The clock is ticking on Tom Lewand Jr.'s time as CEO of watch and luxury goods maker Shinola/Detroit LLC.

Shinola announced Friday that Lewand will leave the Detroit-based luxury retailer at the end of the year to "take on a new professional role."

The company and Lewand did not disclose his new job.

"Decisions like these are never easy," Lewand said Friday in a statement. "However, the amazing business and civic climate in our community has afforded me the chance to consider some once-in-a-lifetime professional opportunities, which I look forward to sharing at the appropriate time."

Lewand, 49, became Shinola's CEO in June 2016 after being fired as president of the Detroit Lions following a sweeping front office restructuring by Lions owner Martha Firestone Ford. He previously spent 20 years in the Lions organization.

"Tom was instrumental in leading our team and preparing Shinola for the evolution of its next phase of growth. He will be missed," Shinola founder Tom Kartsotis said Friday in a statement. "The board and I are very confident in our capable senior team and their ability to lead Shinola into its next chapter."

Lewand's plans to leave Shinola's C-suite follows the March 2018 departure of Shinola President Jacques Panis, who had been with Kartsotis since the inception of the company in 2010. Panis was replaced by Shannon Washburn, who was previously Shinola's vice president of watch development.

In July 2018, Panis became CEO of Troy-based lab-grown diamond startup New World Diamonds LLC.